An “exceptionally rare” pink grasshopper has been spotted basking in the sun alongside a river in New Zealand’s South Island. A group of department of conservation researchers were conducting their annual grasshopper survey near Lake Tekapo in the MacKenzie basin when they came across the dark pink female critter. The species – the robust grasshopper – is native to New Zealand, and the country’s largest lowland grasshopper. It is typically grey or brown, like the river stones of the only area th

Rare pink grasshopper spotted in Mackenzie Basin! Ranger Jen Schori couldn’t believe her eyes when a colleague spotted a pink robust grasshopper during an annual survey near Lake Tekapo/Takapō in the Mackenzie Basin. Jen has been studying robust grasshoppers for years, but this was the first time she had seen one in person. Pink grasshoppers are exceptionally rare, likely caused by a genetic mutation called erythrism which results in an over production of red pigment and less of the usual natura